The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-04-07
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.


WASHINGTON, D. c., April Sd, 1887.
The Postmaster at Washington, who
has held Office ever since the administra.
ton of President Arthur, and drawn the
lucrative salary of $4,000 year, is get.
ting very uneasy lest in the early days of
the spring he will lose his much sought
after position. The run:or is that the
President has instructed the Postmaster
General to inform him of all the Presi-
Dental postmasters holding over from the
last administration, with the view of call
ing for the designations of some $50
Republicans that their places may be
filled by good and patient Democrats.
There are over 2, 400 of these Offices with.
in the gift of the President, and the fact
that all except $50 are filled by sturdy
Democrats makes it look as if President
Cleveland is pretty good Democrat, no
matter what has been charged to the con.
trary.
The interstate Commerce Commission.
ers are all here and have organized by
electing Judge Cooley chairman. The
first thing they did after assembling in
our snow enveloped city, after paying
their respects to the Chief Executive, was
to call upon the Secretary of the Interior
and be sworn into office. The Comptrol.
Ter of the Treasury has ruled that no
officer of the Government can draw pay
for the Office to which be is appointed
until he takes the prescribed oath to sup.
port the Constitution of the United
States, and 80 the Commissioners draw
pay from last Thursday, and not from
the time of their appointment. Many
people are asking whether the Commits.
sioners will have to pay their railroad
fare out of their salaries, or will have it
paid out of the appropriation for the
running expenses of the Commission.
The question is an important one as the
Commissioners will have much travelling
to do, and the railway fare would be a
pretty big item to take from the 81 500 q
year salary. The best opinion seems to
be that it will be paid ont of the appro-
priation for the expenses of the Office.
Commissioner of Agriculture, Colman,
has just returned from Louisiana, and is
delighted with his reception there and
with the prospects of an increase in the
yield of sugar. He says that he never
knew what Southern hospitality was
until his trip south. He was dined and
wined from the time he entered the
boundaries of the Sunny South until he
left them on his return home. He says
that if lie is as successful as he expects to
be in the experiments conducted under
his direction, the sugar trade of the coun-
try will be revolutionized, and there will
be saving cf 40 per cent. by the new
diffusion process. When that day comes
we may expect to have not more than ten
per cent. of sdulteration in our sugar,
and there will be no necessity Of fighting
for the annexation of Cuba.
There has been very heavy discharge
in the Government Printing Office this
week, necessitated partly by the production
in work since the adjournment of Con-
gress and partly to make room for
appointments. The discharge would
have been made early but for the fact
that the employees have been paid
monthly, owing 10 peculiar wording of
the law, which forbids the Government
Printer drawing money from the Treasu.
ry oftener than once month for the pay
of the printers, and as Congress did not
adjourn until the 9th of March, the force
had to be kept until the end of the month,
when the money could be drawn to pay
them. The discharged men made about
three weeks on Uncle Sam in that way.
Hereafter, under an arrangement between
the Government Printer and the Comp
troller of the Treasury the printers will
be paid every two weeks.
One day this week FIVE ducks were
found lying dead at the base of the
Washington Monument. One of them
was found cut nearly in two as if cleaved
by q razor. 1t is supposed that the early
morning being cloudy the ducks lost their
course and blindly dashed against the
monument with such force as to be killed,
and the one found cut in two struck the
platinum point of the monument which
cut it in twain. The pathological
branch of the Agricultural Department
has on record numerous instances of birds
killed by dashing against lighthouses,
and has in its museum many rare species
of birds killed in that way and forwarded
by the lighthouse keepers to the Depart
ment, but the above is the first known
instance of birds or fowls being killed by
| dashing against the monument 81.